Quantock Hills Blog
Attention Bird Watchers!
- Andy has dusted off his binoculars....
Posted by Andy Harris on 16 November 2009
I’ve been a keen bird watcher for as long as I can remember and for me one of the greatest rewards you can have is your first sighting of species as they return whether it’s to breed or as now to winter, often in large flocks.
For instance a speciality of the forest over winter is Crossbills and Bramblings and already there’s good flocks that can often be heard first and then seen flying from tree tops to tree tops. Another classic pairing of winter visitors are Fieldfares and Redwings that arrive here from Scandinavia and this year a bumper crop of Rowan berries await them. One of the great things about this job is you never stop learning about the wildlife around you or see new behaviour and this was certainly the case when I came across a large flock of several hundred roosting Fieldfares and Redwings.
I normally associate Fieldfares and Redwings with roosts in scrub and woodland habitats but one evening I took a walk across the common after sunset near Crowcombe Park Gate and found large numbers of these thrushes roosting amongst mature heather. As I disturbed them they flew a short distance before settling down again. This is something I’ve never seen before.
But one of the greatest rewards has to be seeing a wintering Hen Harrier quartering the heath and on the same night as seeing the roosting thrushes a female Hen Harrier (ringtail) flew past just a matter of a few feet away. The amazing photograph shown below was recently taken by local wildlife photograph Matthew Peaster (for more info see http://www.matthewpeaster.com)
We are always keen to hear from members of the public about wildlife sightings they make on the hills and there organisations such as Somerset Ornithological Society http://www.somersetbirds.net/ who also appreciate receiving records.
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